Australia's premier all-rounder Cameron Green is all set to spark a bidding war at the IPL 2026 players' auction in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Green enters the auction at base price of Rs 2 crore, he started a bidding war and was eventually bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for 25.20 crore.
He surpassed fellow Australian Mitchell Starc (Rs 24.75 crore) and commanded the highest price by an overseas player at an IPL auction but there remains a catch.
Green won't earn a rupee more than Rs 18 crore even if he attracts a mega deal in excess of Rs 25 crore or Rs 30 crore.
Ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, BCCI introduced a new rule for the mini auction stating that overseas players won't earn more than the highest retention slab available to franchises at the previous auction, which currently stands at Rs 18 crore.
So Green will take home only Rs 18 crore but the full amount of the winning bid will be deducted from the franchise's auction purse.
The IPL has said that the difference will be reverted to the BCCI for player development and welfare.
However, if an Indian player like Venkatesh Iyer secures a mega deal in excess of Rs 25 crore or so, he will receive the full amount.
Kolkata Knight Riders, who have Rs 64.30 crore in their kitty, are the front-runners to sign Green, but they can expect stiff competition from Chennai Super Kings (Rs 43.40 crore).
Green, 26, who previously played for the Mumbai Indians in 2023 and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2024, missed IPL 2025 while recovering from back surgery. He returned to international cricket in June as a specialist batter but has since been cleared to bowl.
The teams are always willing to go the distance in the IPL mini auction to procure the services of players with distinct skill-sets as they come with specific choices and with limited slots to fill.
The 10 teams need to fill up 77 slots with a cumulative purse of Rs 237.55 crore and among them.
In a last-minute change, the BCCI added 19 players to the auction list to take the total count to 369 before the auction begins. Bengal's Abhimanyu Easwaran is among the known last minute additions at a base price of Rs 30 lakh after some franchise expressed interest in him.
'Never before have so many new names been added,' a franchise official told Cricbuzz.
Easwaran boosted his IPL hopes with a 52-ball 148 for Bengal against Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match on November 30, 2025 and then hit a 37-ball 58 against Services on December 4, 2025.
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